From 2003-2018, Rod Allen was the color commentator for Detroit Tigers games that were aired on Fox Sports Detroit. Allen and his partner, Mario Impemba, did an excellent job working together through the highs and the lows and the ratings verified that.
But in 2018, their relationship, which was a rocky one, finally came to an end as the two reportedly got into an altercation that ended up costing both Allen and Impemba their jobs.
During a recent interview with the Detroit Free Press, Allen finally opened up about what went down with Impemba and he made it very clear that the incident was not violent and there certainly was no choking involved.
From Detroit Free Press:
“It was no secret that Mario and I weren’t best friends. We seldom got together outside of the booth. But we were very professional — he was good at his job, I was good at mine, and we had great ratings. Like every relationship, sometimes you just have a bad day. Looking back, l could have just walked away from the situation that night. I’m not a confrontational person. We both got caught up and a lot of foul words were exchanged. But there’s one part of the story that everybody has heard that is just false. It was written that I had allegedly chased him down and then choked him, and that is just not true. The incident was not at all that serious. It was not violent. Whoever put that out there did so because they wanted to assassinate my character and make me out to be the bad guy. Ultimately, it cost both of us our jobs. We both could have done things differently. I’m not proud of the way it ended. It was one bad night out of more than 16 years. Those were years that brought joy to thousands of Tiger fans, through good and bad seasons. I love baseball and love sharing my passion and insight on the game, especially with Tiger fans who are some of the best and the most knowledgeable fans in the world. I look forward to another opportunity to work again in an industry that l have devoted my life to.”
Allen announced on Friday that he will be doing the radio broadcast for three Arizona Diamondbacks games in the near future.
Not confrontational? lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEfgeYelL7g&ab_channel=JimmyCrackcorn
Not confrontational? lol The Japanese pitcher he chased all over the field might disagree
Still no real insight, I mean it’s been 3 years & your finally getting a shot doing 3 radio games. Mario was hired immediately by Redsox. Was it over a chair? Come clean, inquiring minds wanna know!